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FIVB Rio: Debut of modified pool play, but few surprises Thursday

Top-seeded Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil won both matches Thursday, earning a bye in the knockout round/FIVB photo

Main-draw action begins Friday at the FIVB four-star event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and with it, a new modified pool-play structure.

And you’d best pay attention:

Instead of the more typical six match, round-robin pool play structure, where each team plays three times, pool-play winners and losers are determined in four matches, two per team: No. 1 versus No. 4, No. 2 versus No. 3, the winner of No. 1 versus No. 4 plays the winner of No. 2 versus No. 3, and the loser of No. 1 versus No. 4 plays the loser of No. 2 versus No. 3.

The winners of the winners earn a bye into the second round of single-elimination playoffs, the loser of the loser’s match will not advance, and the loser of the winner’s match and the winner of the loser’s match will advance to the first round of elimination playoffs.

By reducing the number of matches in pool play (compared to a five-star event), the FIVB and promoters are able to reduce the number of games by 16 in order to reduce operational costs.

On the other hand, modified pool play gives teams fewer chances to show their quality and break pool. Nevertheless, a remarkable 13 out of 16 top seeds finished at the top of their pools, as only No. 3 Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola of Brazil, No. 6 Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor of Poland, and No. 8 Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk of Canada failed to top their pools. Goncalves and Loyola must win against No. 14 Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek of Poland Friday to advance. Kantor and Losiak will face No. 22 Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany, and Saxton and Schalk must win against No. 24 Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz of Poland.

Top seed Larissa Franca of Brazil is widely regarded as the best setter in the game/FIVB photo

Women’s pool play

Top-seeded Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes of Brazil earned a bye with wins Thursday over Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami of Japan (21-7, 21-14) and Lane Carico and Lauren Fendrick of the USA (21-16, 21-12). Carico and Fendrick advance to the playoffs by virtue of their 18-21, 21-18, 16-14 win over Elsa Baquerizo and Angela Lobato of Spain, while Ishii and Murakami and Baquerizo and Lobato will battle Friday.

Olympic gold-medalists Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany also earned a first-round-bye via narrow wins over USC product Alex Jupiter and Ophelie Lusson of France (22-20, 21-19) and Juliana Felisberta and Carolina Salgado of Brazil (14-21, 21-19, 21-18). Felisberta and Salgado advance to the playoffs, along with the winner of tomorrow’s match between Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich versus Lusson and Jupiter.

Pool C top seed Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude of Germany earnest a respite from the first-round playoffs with straight set wins over Lena Plesiutschnig and Teresa Strauss of Austria (25-23, 21-11) and Josemari Alves and Liliane Maestrini of Brazil (21-10, 21-14). Alves and Maestrini advance, while Plesiutschnig and Strauss will battle the Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova and Ievgenia Shchypkova to stay in the tournament.

Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Duda of Brazil upheld the top seed in Pool D, with wins over Manon Flier and Marleen van Iersel of the Netherlands (21-15, 21-16) and Victoria Bieneck and Isabel Schneider of Germany (21-19, 19-21, 15-10)

Pool E’s Barbara Seixas and Fernanda Alves justified their wild card with wins over Americans Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar (21-12, 21-18) and Evgenia Ukolova and Anastasia Barsuk of Russia (21-15, 21-19). Ukolova and Barsuk advance to playoffs, while Day Hochevar will face Marleen Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel of the Netherlands Friday to stay in.

Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes dropped a match to Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada and must win tomorrow to advance to the knock-out round/FIVB photo

Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes have a first-round-bye via defeats of Americans Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes (21-12, 25-23) and Australians Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy (21-11, 19-21, 16-14). Bawden and Clancy advance to the first round of playoffs, while Americans Claes/Hughes will face Poland’s Kinga Kolosinska and Jagoda Gruszynska at 5:50 Friday to get into elimination playoffs.

Pool G’s top seeds Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republicdefeated both Joy Stubbe and Jolien Sinnema of the Netherlands (21-18, 21-19) and Marta Menegatti and Rebecca Perry of Italy (21-11, 22-20) to earn the pool’s bye into Friday playoffs. Menegatti and Perry will advance to playoffs, while Sinnema and Stubbe will face Argentinians Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug to stay alive.

Brazil’s Elize Maia and Taiana Lima held court in Pool H to earn their bye with wins over Julia Grossner and Nadja Glenzke of Germany (21-15, 21-13) and Tanja Huberli and Nina Betschart of Switzerland (12-21, 21-17, 15-10).

Men’s pool play

Top-seeded Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa of Brazil earned their pool’s bye with wins over Youssef Krou and Quincy Aye of France (21-18, 18-21, 15-12) and Americans Ryan Doherty and John Hyden (21-13, 21-13). Doherty/Hyden advance to the first round of their playoffs with their 21-19, 19-21, 15-12 win over Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Artem Yarzutkin of Russia, who will play Krou and Aye Friday to advance to playoffs.

Former Floridian Adrian Carambula and Italian teammate Alex Ranghieri advanced past Juan Virgen and Lombardo Ontiveros of Mexico in a straight set 21-16, 21-15 victory, but were swept by Olympic gold medalists Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil. Cerutti and Schmidt have earned a first-round bye while Carambula and Ranghieri will play in the first round. Virgen and Ontiveros will meet Sean Faiga and Ariel Hilman of Israel to stay in the tournament.

In Pool C, Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola were upset by Austrian qualifiers Julian Horl and Alexander Huber 21-14, 21-15. Horl and Huber subsequently lost to countrymen Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst 21-11, 21-17, while Goncalves and Loyola will battle to get into playoffs against Grzegorz Fijalek and Michal Bryl of Poland.

Americans Theo Brunner and Casey Patterson started off with a straight set win over Canadians Michael Plantinga and Grant O’Gorman 24-22, 21-15. Brunner and Patterson subsequentlylost a tight three set battle to bronze medalists Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands, 21-18, 14-21, 15-13. Brouwer and Meeuwsen earned the first round bye, while Brunner/Patterson are in the elimination playoffs. Plantinga and O’Gorman face Brandao Oscar and Moreira Hevaldo for the right to advance.

Pool E’s Pedro Solberg and Gustavo Carvalhaes of Brazil earned their bye handily with wins over Robin Seidl and Tobias Winter of Austria (21-17, 21-17) and Mariusz Prudel and Kacper Kujawiak (21-14, 21-14). Prudel and Kujawiak will enter playoffs after their 16-21, 21-19, 15-13 win over Canada’s Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter, who will face Seidl and Winter to survive.

Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb of the USA have earned a bye with a 21-17, 21-14 win over Germany’s Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen and a 21-18, 21-14 win over the Netherlands’ Christiaan Varenhorst and Maarten Van Garderen. Varenhorst and Van Garderen advance to the playoffs with their 12-21, 27-25, 15-11 win over Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor of Poland, who will play Bockermann and Fluggen.

Pool G’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavia of Spain won matches against Marco and Esteban Grimalt of Chile (21-18, 14-21, 15-12) and Nikita Liamin and Viacheslav Krasilnikov of Russia (21-13, 21-13). Krasilnikov and Liamin’s win against Sergio Gonzalez and Nivaldo Diaz of Cuba puts them into playoffs, while Gonzalez and Diaz will face the Grimalt brothers Friday.

Olympic silver-medalists Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo of Italy upheld their top seeds with wins over Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz of Poland (21-13, 21-15) and Norway’s Christian Sorum and Mathias Berntsen (22-24, 21-16, 15-10). Sorum and Bertsen defeated Canada’s Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk to guarantee themselves a playoff berth, while Saxton and Schalk will play Rudol and Scalankiewicz Friday in the hopes of staying alive.